Hey Guy's and Gal's, i am new to the Forum and have a question..........can't watch TV when it rains on dish network!We have had dish about 1yr and they can't seem to get it fixed and we are not talking about thunder storms,just RAIN!

We started with Direct TV and did not experience these kind of problems but the reason we don't have it now was the dish location,the only place they could install it was dead center in the front yard and two weeks was all we could take looking at that. Dish Network was able to install at the side of the garage and Direct could not do that.

The only solution is to have the dish peaked for more signal. More signal is all that can help you for rain fade. Maybe Direct wouldn't put it where Dish did, because they new it would be a marginal install.

Hopefully, it will be as easy as having your Dish repeaked. Call customer service and ask them for this service. If you have the service plan, it will be $15. They will probably waive that if you haven't had a free service call in the past 12 months.

Depending on what dish you have, (the 1000.4 is much more likely to have rain fade than a 500 or 1000.2 dish. Also, if your dish is not peaked to maximum signal strength, that could be your problem too. Could be the dish has moved slightly and this is the reason for the sudden loss of signal. I have a 1000.2 and right now it is raining hard here in WI and my dish is not affected. Maybe post your signal levels and we would be able to better diagnose your situation.

One thing to note. Usually rain, in itself does NOT cause signal loss. It is almost always the thickness of the clouds to the south that makes the difference.
Here is alabama we get rained on often, but very rarely get loss of signal, and my strengths are low (on purpose). we don't lose the signal because the rain is VERY localized. I've seen it where it was pouring on my backyard but not on my across the street neighbor.
In the past, if rain caused my signal to go out, I always found that there was a poor connection that was letting water in. I would go through the cables and find a connector at the grounding block, or some where, that wasn't tight.
I would use some stuff called Sat Seal on all the connections and that would take care of the rain issue. (one time i did it during the storm, NOT recommended!!!)

One thing to note. Usually rain, in itself does NOT cause signal loss. It is almost always the thickness of the clouds to the south that makes the difference.
Here is alabama we get rained on often, but very rarely get loss of signal, and my strengths are low (on purpose). we don't lose the signal because the rain is VERY localized. I've seen it where it was pouring on my backyard but not on my across the street neighbor.
In the past, if rain caused my signal to go out, I always found that there was a poor connection that was letting water in. I would go through the cables and find a connector at the grounding block, or some where, that wasn't tight.
I would use some stuff called Sat Seal on all the connections and that would take care of the rain issue. (one time i did it during the storm, NOT recommended!!!)

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Good points. Hopefully, he scheduled a truck roll. They should fix any bad ends on that too... And then, I would go back and seal them.

Pub Member / Supporter

IT all depends on your dish peaking. If you have a good line of sight and good sat numbers , you suffer from less rain fade. If it is raining cats & dogs , you will see your picture go out regardless if you have a good dish peaking. The only way around it is to have a larger dish to ensure that you don't lose your signal. Say three 30" sat dishes , one for each satellite in your matrix: 77/72.7/61.5.

IT all depends on your dish peaking. If you have a good line of sight and good sat numbers , you suffer from less rain fade.

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Then why has there been some much discussion on rain fade re: Dish1000.4 as opposed to the other two Dish systems? It seems that the 1000.4 suffers more than the others. I've read elsewhere here that the 1000.4 was harder to peak, but that the 1000.4's higher elevation should make rain fade less of an issue. Which is correct?

The only solution is to have the dish peaked for more signal. More signal is all that can help you for rain fade. Maybe Direct wouldn't put it where Dish did, because they new it would be a marginal install.

Hopefully, it will be as easy as having your Dish repeaked. Call customer service and ask them for this service. If you have the service plan, it will be $15. They will probably waive that if you haven't had a free service call in the past 12 months.

Click to expand...

I just had our Dish re-peaked. 110 and 119 a have good signals and are not bothered by rain. 129 has a weaker signal and if we get a heavy water cloud and/or thunder storm then 129 loses signal. We live at about 7200 feet near Dolores, CO (four corners area).

Pub Member / Supporter

I've read elsewhere here that the 1000.4 was harder to peak, but that the 1000.4's higher elevation should make rain fade less of an issue. Which is correct?

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Both! The 1000.4 is harder to peak, so sloppy installers don't do a very good job and the result is more complaints of rain fade. Once it's aligned properly, (in my experience) it's just as good as the dishe(s) it replaces.

Pub Member / Supporter

Then why has there been some much discussion on rain fade re: Dish1000.4 as opposed to the other two Dish systems? It seems that the 1000.4 suffers more than the others. I've read elsewhere here that the 1000.4 was harder to peak, but that the 1000.4's higher elevation should make rain fade less of an issue. Which is correct?

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It is harder to peak because there are more parts than the 1000.2 dish. The 1000.4 sat dish has an elevation rod and an azimuth cam that the 1000.2 dish doesn't. IF you don't peak with the azimuth cam and the elevation rod , you won't achieve maximum peak and your signal will fail in the rain. So once again I stress that the 1000.4 sat dish has more rain fade because the dishes are not peaked correctly . That goes to what I have already said above. You have to peak it with the azimuth cam and elevation rod. I installed mine and it took me quite a while to get the best signal on all 3 sats and to get maximum peak.

The 1000.2 sat dish is basically set skew, elevation , aim & point in the right direction and it is peaked. But My parents have great signals on all 3 of the western arc sats ,but they suffer more rain fade than I do at lower signal strengths. I get consistent signals of between 60 - 70 on 72.7 sat , 61.5 sat I get 45- 70 ,and on 77 sat the weakest sat I get between 40- 50 . All acceptable signal strengths. It all depends on who installs it and whether they take the extra time to do the work and get it peaked for maximum signal strengths. And if it is raining cats and dogs , it really won't matter what arc you have because DISH does not work in hard driving rains period. But neither does DIRECTV.

Also, 1k4's are harder since the orbitals are in a tighter peaking spread. On the East cost, the birds are virtually 5 degrees apart, so it can mean MM's between on peak and no signal. Thats thre reason for the cams. But once peaked, they are stronger signals (even though the signal reading is less). Also, keep in mind that MPEG4 signals require less data to transmit the picture, requiring less signal before drop outs.

WA: -35db is approx 80 on the Dish Scale
EA: -35db is approx 50 on the Dish Scale

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